TRIBUTES 


TO 

JUDGE  MANNING 

AND 

CHIEF-JUSTICE  WAITE, 

AT  THE 

annual  Jfleettng  of  tlje  trustees 

OF  THE 

PEABODY  EDUCATION  FUND, 

New  York,  3 October,  1888. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 
SInfbersftj  $ress. 

1888. 


Reprinted  from  the  Proceedings, 
ioo  Copies. 


TRIBUTES 


At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Peabody  Education  Fund,  the  Chairman,  the 
Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  LL.D.,  after  some 
remarks  of  a business  character,  proceeded  as 
follows : — 

It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  on  the  first  day  of  our 
last  Annual  Meeting,  Oct.  5,  1887,  our  Associate-Trustee, 
the  Hon.  Thomas  C.  Manning  of  Louisiana,  was  with 
us.  He  had  just  returned  on  leave  from  his  post  as 
United  States  Minister  to  Mexico,  and  we  all  observed 
with  sincere  regret  that  his  health  seemed  to  be  seriously 
impaired.  He  remained  with  us  during  that  day’s  session, 
and  exhibited  his  usual  intelligent  interest  in  our  proceed- 
ings ; but  he  was  not  well  enough  to  be  with  us  on  the 
following  day,  being  confined  to  his  chamber  under  the 
care  of  a physician.  His  illness  proved  to  be  fatal,  and  he 
died  in  this  hotel  on  the  nth  of  October,  in  the  fifty-sixth 
year  of  his  age. 

Born  and  educated  in  North  Carolina,  Judge  Manning 
removed  to  Louisiana  in  1855  and  established  his  resi- 
dence at  Alexandria,  on  Red  River,  where  he  pursued  the 
profession  of  law  until  his  death.  He  was  unanimously 


p 5970 


4 PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  TRUSTEES  [Oct. 

elected  a member  of  this  Board  in  the  place  of  the 
lamented  Gen.  Richard  Taylor,  on  the  19th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1880,  and  had  thus  been  associated  with  our  work  for 
more  than  seven  years.  During  several  of  those  years  he 
was  a member  of  our  Executive  Committee,  and  he  was 
always  an  attentive,  and  valuable  member  of  the  Board. 
He  rendered  especial  service,  as  you  will  remember,  in  con- 
nection with  the  defaulted  bonds  of  Mississippi  and  Florida, 
and  received  the  formal  thanks  of  the  Trustees  for  his 
efforts  in  1882.  His  Address  to  the  Legislature  of  Missis- 
sippi, and  his  various  Reports  and  Letters  on  the  subject 
of  these  bonds,  occupy  many  interesting  pages  of  our  new 
volume  of  Proceedings. 

Judge  Manning  was  an  able  and  accomplished  jurist,  and 
had  been  for  several  years  the  Chief-Justice  of  the  State  of 
Louisiana.  We  shall  all  remember  him  as  a most  amiable 
and  agreeable  man,  for  whose  death  we  could  not  fail  to  feel 
an  acute  personal  sorrow.  His  funeral  was  attended  by  as 
many  of  the  members  of  our  Board  as  were  within  reach, 
and  our  Associate,  Bishop  Whipple,  officiated  on  the  occa- 
sion. I venture  to  ask  the  Bishop,  in  company  Vith  Mr. 
Courtenay  and  Mr.  Drexel,  to  prepare  a minute  for  our 
records,  expressing  our  sense  of  Judge  Manning’s  character 
and  services,  and  our  regret  for  his  loss. 

But  we  miss  from  our  meeting  this  morning  one  who 
has  died  more  recently,  and  who  had  been  one  of  our 
most  important  members  for  a longer  term.  The  Hon. 
Morrison  R.  Waite,  Chief- Justice  of  the  United  States,  was 
elected  one  of  our  Trustees  in  October,  1874,  and  had  thus 
been  a member  of  this  Board  for  nearly  fourteen  years. 
During  that  whole  period  there  has  been  no  one  on  whom 


1 888.]  OF  THE  PEABODY  EDUCATION  FUND.  5 

we  have  all  relied  more  for  wise  counsel  and  cordial  co- 
operation. No  one,  certainly,  took  a deeper  or  more  in- 
telligent interest  in  our  proceedings.  The  stated  day  of 
our  Annual  Meeting  was  fixed  for  the  first  Wednesday  of 
October  at  his  own  suggestion  and  request,  so  that  his  ju- 
dicial duties  at  Washington  or  on  his  circuit  might  never 
interfere  with  his  attendance  here  ; and  I believe  he  never 
failed  to  be  with  us  during  his  whole  membership,  except 
in  the  single  year  ( 1 88 1)  when  his  health  had  taken  him  to 
Europe.  He  was  always  on  one  of  our  standing  commit- 
tees, and  for  some  years  past  he  was  on  both  of  them.  He 
was  also  a member  of  the  special  Committee  of  Three,  with 
Mr.  Stuart  and  Mr.  Evarts,  and  gave  his  signature  and 
hearty  assent  to  the  able  and  admirable  Report  by  which 
the  proposal  of  a still  much  needed  National  Aid  for  the 
education  of  the  colored  population  of  the  Southern  States 
was  originally  urged  upon  Congress.  His  signature  to 
that  Report  left  little  pretence  for  constitutional  cavils 
about  the  measure.  He  was  also  one  of  the  original 
Trustees  of  the  Slater  Fund,  which  is,  as  you  all  know, 
especially  and  exclusively  devoted  to  the  education  of  the 
colored  race.  He  was  thus  brought  into  intimate  acquain- 
tance with  the  need  and  the  duty  of  doing  something  ex- 
ceptional for  that  race.  Had  his  views,  and  those  of  the 
other  members  of  the  Committee  and  of  the  Board,  been 
sanctioned  and  carried  out  by  Congress  in  1880,  there 
would  now  be  far  less  to  fear  than  there  is  from  the  grow- 
ing illiteracy  of  our  colored  voters. 

Great,  however,  as  the  loss  of  Judge  Waite  is  to  this  Board 
and  to  each  one  of  us  individually,  it  has,  I need  not  say, 
far  wider  relations.  The  death  of  a Chief-Justice  of  the 
United  States  can  never  fail  to  be  a subject  of  more  than 


6 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  TRUSTEES 


[Oct. 


common  concern  to  the  whole  country.  I recall  person- 
ally and  vividly  the  emotions  everywhere  manifested  at  the 
death  of  the  illustrious  John  Marshall  in  1835,  in  the  eigh- 
tieth year  of  his  age,  after  thirty-four  years  of  service  in 
the  exalted  office  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent John  Adams.  To  him,  and  to  his  providentially  pro- 
tracted life,  we  owe  pre-eminently  the  continuity  and  con- 
sistency of  our  great  judicial  system,  and  the  uniformity 
and  authority  of  the  constructions  and  decisions  of  our 
supreme  national  tribunal.  Most  happily  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  an  eminent  jurist,  who  was  destined  to  live  to 
a still  greater  age  in  full  possession  of  his  faculties,  and  to 
die  in  his  eighty-seventh  year,  after  a service  as  Chief- 
Justice  of  twenty-eight  years.  The  brief  administrations 
of  that  office  by  John  Jay  and  Oliver  Ellsworth  and 
Salmon  P.  Chase  will  always  be  remembered  with  respect ; 
but  we  cannot  be  too  grateful  to  God  for  the  striking  pro- 
longation of  the  lives  and  services  of  John  Marshall  and 
Roger  B.  Taney,  covering  together  as  they  do  more  than 
half  of  the  entire  history  of  our  constitutional  existence 
to  this  day.  Indeed,  at  the  time  of  Chief-Justice  Taney’s 
death,  in  1864,  they  covered  hardly  less  than  four-fifths  of 
it.  The  influence  and  importance  of  the  long  official  terms 
of  two  such  men  in  succession,  in  preventing  any  conflict- 
ing constructions  of  our  Constitution  and  laws,  can  never 
be  over-estimated. 

It  had  been  earnestly  hoped  and  believed  that  in  our 
lamented  associate  the  Supreme  Court  had  once  more 
secured  a Chief  who  was  to  renew  the  associations  of  his 
two  great  predecessors  in  being  privileged  to  preside  over 
it  for  another  period  of  at  least  a quarter  of  a century. 
Coming  to  the  office  without  the  prestige  of  many,  or  per- 


1 888.]  OF  THE  PEABODY  EDUCATION  FUND.  7 

haps  of  any,  of  those  whom  he  followed,  he  had  won,  year 
by  year  and  every  year,  the  increasing  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  the  whole  country,  and  the  warm  regard  and 
affection  of  all  who  knew  him.  The  eldest  son  of  a Chief- 
Justice  of  Connecticut,  with  whom,  after  graduating  at 
Yale  College  in  1837,  he  studied  law  at  his  home  in  Lyme, 
in  that  State,  he  had  soon  removed  to  Ohio  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Maumee 
City,  and  afterward,  in  1850,  at  Toledo.  A member  of  the 
Ohio  Legislature  in  1849,  an(*  President  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  that  State  in  1873,  his  reputation 
might  have  remained  local  but  for  the  excellent  service 
which  he  rendered  to  the  whole  country  as  one  of  the 
counsel  of  the  United  States  at  the  memorable  Geneva 
Tribunal  of  Arbitration.  He  had  no  ambition  for  public 
life,  and  repelled  all  political  overtures.  The  great  office 
in  which  he  died  came  to  him  unsought,  and  most  unex- 
pectedly to  himself  and  others.  But  he  rose  at  once  to  its 
requisitions,  and  proved  himself,  as  was  well  said  in  the 
Senate,  “a  worthy  successor  in  the  great  line  of  chief- 
justices.”  He  was  able,  impartial,  of  consummate  good 
sense  and  good  temper,  and  of  unsullied  integrity  and 
purity.  Happy  in  his  domestic  life  and  social  surroundings, 
of  robust  frame  and  active  habits,  and  of  a genial,  sunny 
disposition,  the  cares  and  labors  of  his  office  seemed  always 
to  sit  lightly  upon  him;  and  at  least  another  decade  of 
years  and  usefulness  might  have  been  confidently  predicted 
for  him.  But  a cold  caught  at  an  evening  reception,  and 
rashly  neglected  in  a too  resolute  and  persistent  discharge 
of  judicial  duty,  had  assumed  a serious  character  before  he 
or  others  were  aware  of  it ; and  the  whole  country  was 
taken  by  surprise  and  deeply  shocked  by  the  announce- 


8 PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  TRUSTEES  [Oct. 

ment  of  his  sudden  death  at  Washington,  on  the  morning 
of  the  23d  of  March  last,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of 
his  age,  and  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  service  as  Chief- 
Justice. 

Imposing  services  were  held  in  the  Capitol  by  the  two 
branches  of  Congress,  before  the  removal  of  his  remains 
to  Toledo,  whither  they  were  accompanied  by  the  Asso- 
ciate-Justices of  the  Supreme  Court.  But  nowhere  was 
his  unexpected  and  deeply  lamented  death  the  subject  of 
more  immediate  and  impressive  notice  than  in  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  where  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  on  the  very 
day  after  his  death,  most  affectionate  tributes  were  paid 
to  his  memory  by  the  District  Judge  and  other  officers  of 
the  court,  and  by  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the 
Charleston  Bar.  The  Chief- Justice,  by  his  assignment  to 
the  Charleston  Circuit,  had  repeatedly  been  called  on  to  pre- 
side in  that  court,  and  had  won  the  regard  and  respect  of 
all  with  whom  he  had  been  associated  there.  His  first 
visit  was  during  “ the  Era  of  Reconstruction,”  and  his 
earliest  work  was  to  preside  at  the  trial  of  the  famous 
“ Election  Cases.”  “ With  everything  preceding  his  com- 
ing,” said  one  of  the  members  (Maj.  T.  G.  Barker)  of  the 
Charleston  Bar,  “to  prejudice  him  against  us,  who  will  not 
remember  the  impression  of  fairness  and  of  kindliness 
which,  from  the  outset,  his  conduct  on  the  Bench  and  in 
private  created  upon  all  the  members  of  our  Bar  and  upon 
the  whole  community  ? Rising,  with  the  ease  which  came 
from  a heart  full  of  loving-kindness  and  a spirit  of  justice 
and  truth,  above  all  the  prejudices  which  would  naturally 
have  controlled  him,  he  at  once  won  the  confidence  and 
admiration  of  the  Bar,  and  the  trust  of  those  who,  falsely 
accused,  stood  before  him  for  their  trial.” 


1 888.]  OF  THE  PEABODY  EDUCATION  FUND.  9 

“ Of  tranquil  spirit,  sensitive  conscience,  and  large  hu- 
manity,” said  the  venerable  Ex-Judge  Bryan  on  the  same 
occasion,  “he  brought  to  the  judgment  seat,  and  to  the 
authority  of  his  pre-eminent  position,  a mind  above  the 
bias  of  party  or  section,  and  wholly  devoted  to  truth.  He 
could  be  just  to  his  opponents,  even  to  his  enemies;  and  he 
could  not  be  otherwise.  This  was  his  mission;  and  it  was 
the  happiness  of  the  whole  country  that  it  was,  and  that 
he  had  the  strength  every  way  to  fill  it.  Fortunate,  indeed, 
that  there  was  a man  who,  amidst  the  furious  passions 
which  rent  the  country  and  shook  the  land,  could  hold 
in  his  steady  and  equal  hand  the  balances  of  Justice 
undisturbed/' 

No  tribute  would  have  been  more  highly  prized  by  our 
lamented  friend  than  this. 

Chief-Justice  Waite  was  a devout  member  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church.  I remember  being  with  him  at 
least  once,  perhaps  more  than  once,  at  the  Triennial  Con- 
vention of  that  Church.  Nor  can  I forget  how  kindly  he 
always  reserved  a seat  for  me,  when  I was  in  Washing- 
ton of  late  years,  in  his  pew  at  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany 
in  that  city,  of  which,  I believe,  he  was  a vestryman.  He 
was  rarely  absent  from  his  own  seat.  Let  me  ask  Ex- 
President  Hayes,  with  Mr.  Evarts  and  Governor  Porter, 
to  prepare  a minute  for  our  records  on  the  death  of  the 
Chief-Justice. 


IO 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  TRUSTEES 


[Oct. 


Bishop  Whipple,  for  the  Committee  appointed 
by  the  Chairman,  reported  the  following  Resolution 
on  the  death  of  Judge  Manning,  which  was  duly 
passed : — 

Resolved , That  we  place  on  record  our  grateful  remem- 
brance of  the  valuable  services  of  our  late  lamented  col- 
league, the  Hon.  Thomas  C.  Manning,  of  Louisiana.  He 
will  be  remembered  by  us  for  his  uniform  courtesy,  his 
high  sense  of  honor,  and  fidelity  to  duty.  We  tender  our 
heartfelt  sympathy  to  his  bereaved  family. 

Mr.  Evarts,  for  the  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Chairman,  reported  a minute  on  the  death  of  Chief- 
Justice  Waite,  which  was  unanimously  adopted,  as 
follows : — 

The  public  loss  suffered  by  the  death  of  the  Chief -Justice  of 
the  United  States  has  been  deplored  throughout  the  country, 
with  every  demonstration  of  respect  for  his  exalted  character, 
and  a profound  sense  of  his  great  public  services.  The  pro- 
fession of  the  law,  whether  represented  on  the  bench  or  at  the 
bar,  have  united  in  their  expression  of  the  honor  done  their 
profession,  and  the  service  to  the  administration  of  the  law,  by 
the  learning,  ability,  integrity,  and  fidelity  shown  in  his  conduct 
of  his  elevated  office. 

Besides,  upon  this  bereavement  a universal  sentiment  of  grief 
as  of  a personal  loss,  and  of  affection  for  his  memory,  has  shown 
itself  everywhere  in  the  wide  circles  of  friendship  and  associa- 
tion, in  which  the  purity  and  benignity  of  his  nature  and  his 
life  had  endeared  men  to  him,  in  all  the  spheres  of  society  in 
which  he  had  been  for  so  many  years  a conspicuous  figure. 


1 888.]  OF  THE  PEABODY  EDUCATION  FUND.  I I 

This  Board  during  the  fourteen  years  of  his  membership  has 
been  no  less  impressed  with  these  traits  of  the  Chief-Justice’s 
character  which  the  public  have  thus  appreciated  and  cele- 
brated. Every  member  of  this  Board  heartily  concurs  in  the 
judicious  and  comprehensive  estimate  of  the  qualities  of  Chief- 
Justice  Waite,  in  which  our  Chairman  has  portrayed  to  us  the 
admirable  and  harmonious  features  of  his  character  which  have 
made  him  so  valuable  in  the  administration  of  the  beneficent 
Trust  of  the  Peabody  Education  Fund.  Every  member  of  this 
Board,  as  well,  sympathizes  with  the  warm  spirit  of  affection 
towards  our  deceased  Associate  which  our  Chairman  has  so 
feelingly  expressed. 

Indeed,  we  must  all  feel  that  the  constant  service  which  his 
presence  in  this  Board,  his  coungels,  his  wisdom,  his  zeal,  his 
watchful  attentions  have  rendered  to  this  great  charitable  enter- 
prise, while  he  has  been  associated  in  its  labors,  cannot  be  ex- 
aggerated. In  the  same  proportion,  his  death  affects  us  not 
only  with  grief  at  our  bereavement,  but  also  with  concern  that 
the  important  interests  in  our  charge  are  hereafter  to  miss  the 
participation  of  his  active  energies  and  his  solicitous  care. 

Whenever  and  wherever  the  noble  benevolence  of  the  Founder 
of  this  Trust  for  education  shall  be  honored,  and  its  powerful 
and  gracious  benefits  shall  be  felt  and  rehearsed,  the  name  of 
Chief-Justice  Waite  will  be  conspicuously  remembered,  and 
among  his  many  claims  to  public  and  personal  grateful  esteem 
this  will  not  be  the  least. 

The  Committee  request  that  this  minute  be  entered  in  the 
record  of  this  annual  meeting  of  the  Board,  and  that  a copy 
be  communicated  by  the  Chairman  and  Secretary  of  the  Board 
to  the  family  of  our  lamented  Associate,  with  an  expression  of 
our  condolence  in  their  grief  and  bereavement. 


